Displaying items by tag: Spitzer

Astronomers using the NASA Spitzer Space Telescopes have discovered buckyballs for the first time in space. These all-carbon molecules are now considered the largest molecule ever discovered in space. A single buckyball is about 1 nanometer across--about three times larger than a water molecule.

The NASA Spitzer Space Telescope has found abundant amounts of water vapor inside a young star system that could likely be forming planets. The discovery is the first of its kind—to provide direct evidence of water beginning to interact in a planet-forming star system.